``When I was Secretary of the Treasury I was not supposed to say anything but `strong dollar, strong dollar,''' O'Neill said today. ``I argued then and would argue now that the idea of a strong dollar policy is a vacuous notion.''

The U.S. currency today fell to a record low against the euro, and has declined 15 percent against its European counterpart in the past year.

``The markets actually have control over those relationships. When people say strong dollar, if they don't mean that `we believe intervention can work and we're prepared to intervene,' then `strong dollar' is ridiculous.''

they're all crazy except you and me, but you're acting weird lately!

'The history of public debt is full of irony. It rarely follows our ideas of order and justice.' Thomas Piketty

But the allure of the Franc Fort is strong, and moreover the political will to maintain the Franco-German axis is the lynchpin of the EU.

but who is so removed from reality to think that's a viable proposition, and will this make us focus on a europe where the lynchpin could be something other than the franco-german axis? that rift is healed by now, surely, no need to keep bandaging it at the expense of the periphery?

with greece in ruins, italy teetering towards the same fate, how long can the reality of the euro's massive fail (as presently mismanaged) be denied? no PR is that good...

'The history of public debt is full of irony. It rarely follows our ideas of order and justice.' Thomas Piketty